Houston, Texas Swimming Pool & Diving Accident Lawyer
Swimming Pool Safety Information
One of life's greatest joys is relaxing and playing in a cool pool on a hot day. Swimming and splashing with friends and family are happy memories for many children and adults. Sadly, the second most common cause of injury and death to children under the age of five is drowning. Swimming pool-related injuries and fatalities are tragically common among adults as well. Taking only a few seconds to transpire, swimming pool injuries or deaths often occur without any warning signs. If you or someone you love is the victim of a swimming pool-related injury, or a family member is the victim of a swimming pool-related death, we want to help you in any way possible. Our personal injury law firm is committed to restoring quality of life and preventing injury to others.
If you or a family member has been seriously injured or if you have lost a child or other loved one in a swimming pool-related accident, you should immediately seek the advice of competent lawyers to make sure that the evidence is secured and your rights are preserved. Attorney W. Craft Hughes would be honored to discuss your case through a free evaluation with you. Please contact Craft Hughes Law, P.C. today.
Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to learn more about swimming pool and diving accidents.
Most swimming pool injuries and deaths occur as a result of owner negligence. Children who wander into an improperly supervised or maintained pool area are at risk of drowning in a matter of minutes. Inadequate warnings, diving accidents, and defective pools or drains further contribute to swimming pool danger for individuals of all ages. Our law firm has a network of resources and experience to handle personal injury cases involving swimming pool accidents. We can help you understand your rights during this difficult and confusing time.
Swimming Pool Owners and Pool Liability
A pool owner is responsible for anything and everything that occurs within the pool and the surrounding area. It is the responsibility of the pool owner to provide a safe environment for both children and adults. It is also their responsibility to be pro-active in preventing accident and injury. Some insurance companies provide swimming pool liability insurance, although the rules are strict because of the great danger that a pool can pose to guests and residents.
Do not rely on signs to protect you. Regardless is there are safety or warning signs posted around a pool, the pool owner is still responsible for any accident or injury that is incurred on their property; this includes trespassers.
If you are considering a new swimming pool for your home, make sure you are completely aware of all the risks. Any pool owner should know CPR and have strong swimming skills.
As a pool owner is it strongly recommended that your homeowner's insurance protect you against liability lawsuits that could result from swimming pool injuries. You should also add an additional liability policy that is specifically for swimming pool accidents. The policy should be for no less than $1 million in coverage, although more is strongly recommended.
If you or a loved one have been injured in any type of swimming or water accident, please call us toll-free 888-350-3931 for a free consultation or fill out our case evaluation form. It is your reasonability to hold the negligent party responsible for your injuries.
Common Causes of Swimming Pool Injury and Death
A number of conditions can lead to swimming pool injury or death, including:
- Negligent or improper use of locks;
- Negligent or improper use of fences;
- Negligent or improper supervision;
- Diving accidents;
- Defective drains;
- Defective pool design;
- Inadequate warnings; and
- Lack of safety equipment.
Some pool safety tips for children include:
- Never leave a child un-attended, even for a moment;
- Install a safety fence that is at least 4 feet high. Make sure the fence posts are not wide enough for the child to fit through. A lot of new fences are woven with mesh. Gates should self-close and self-latch;
- A power safety cover can add extra protection, but must never be used in place of a fence;
- Keep rescue equipment (life preserver or shepherd's hook) and a telephone by the pool at all times;
- An air filled swimming aid is not a substitute for life preservers or jackets. These will not prevent your child from drowning;
- Anyone watching a child in the pool should be at arm's length at all times;
- Anyone supervising a child in a pool should know CPR and have the ability to rescue the child if needed;
- After use of the pool, remove all toys from the water to prevent a child from reaching into the pool to retrieve the toy; and
- After use of the pool, make sure all gates are latched and locked.
If you or a loved one have been injured in any type of swimming or water accident, please call us toll-free 888-350-3931 for a free consultation or fill out our case evaluation form.
Pool Filter Explosions and Personal Injuries
Incidents and accidents involving defective pool filters tracked by the Consumer Product Safety Commission show there have been at least 22 similar incidents reported to the commission nationwide since 1982 - including four deaths. A pool man in San Ramon, California suffered head injuries in November after a pool filter exploded. That incident is under investigation by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An OSHA spokeswoman said the department couldn't comment on the case until the investigation is complete. In the nonfatal cases reported to the consumer commission, the majority involved severe injuries, including the loss of an eye or brain injuries.
All the injuries are a result of what lawyers who have filed damage claims say is a design flaw in the kettle-style or canister pool filters. In all cases, users were cleaning the cartridges inside the filter and had put the top back on when compressed air built up in the filters, resulting in explosions that detach the top portion of the two-piece filter away from the bottom.
Read an article - Danville woman crusades against pool filters that killed husband - which provides more details about pool filter safety by clicking here.
Negligent Use of Locks or Fences
Most swimming pool related deaths and injuries are preventable. Every year children suffer brain damage and death merely because an inexpensive lock was not put on a fence, or an owner failed to properly maintain a fence surrounding a pool to keep a child from accessing the area. Children are naturally curious. It only takes seconds for them to wander out of sight and into danger. Caretakers must be diligent in keeping a watchful eye on children. Personal injury lawyer W. Craft Hughes is dedicated to making sure those whose negligent actions cause the wrongful death of a child are held responsible.
Diving Accidents - Head and Spinal Cord Injury
Many children and young adults suffer brain injury or spinal cord injury from diving into pools that are too shallow. Children and young adults are not able to comprehend and appreciate the danger of jumping off the apron of a pool, a fence, balcony, or roof into a pool. All too often, cases of death and serious injuries occur to children, including teenagers, who are unsupervised at birthday or other parties. Sometimes alcohol is served to these underage guests and their judgment is impaired. Some pools are defectively designed and may violate building ordinances. Personal injury attorney W. Craft Hughes has the network of resources and experience to investigate your case; and will help you determine the cause of the injury or death. We can help you understand your rights.
Defective Drains in Swimming Pools and Jacuzzis
Several stories of accidents and injuries have been reported in the news where defective swimming pool drains have caused serious injuries to small children as well as trapped small children under water. These defective pool drain and spa drain accidents have caused several children to have been serious injured or killed due to having body parts entrapped by the drain of a swimming pool, wading pool, or spa. Under normal conditions, pipes leading from a pool's drain, or into the pool's pumps, draw water from the pool creating suction. If something blocks the normal function of a pool drain, the amount of suction can increase as the pump draws water past the obstruction. This increased suction can entrap a small child or person, causing the person to be held underwater, which often leads to brain damage because of lack of oxygen or hypoxia. In extreme situations, defective drains in wading pools have caused a child sitting on the drain outlet to be disemboweled by extreme suction.
Thanks to personal injury lawsuits, many of the dangerous and defective pool drains in swimming pools and Jacuzzis across the country have been repaired or replaced. Unfortunately, some defective pool drains still remain in use. These drains are negligently designed and maintained. The suction may be too powerful to enable a child or swimmer to return to the surface. W. Craft Hughes can establish if a defective product or design contributed to the drowning and help families determine how best to proceed during this difficult time.
The bottom line is that there are state and federal regulations requiring pools to have safety as their first priority. Diving boards should be properly maintained, warnings should be posted, and pools should have gates and fences so they cannot be accessed when they are not open. Failure to follow these regulations leads to thousands of injuries and thousands of deaths each year in the United States.
History of Suction Entrapment Injuries and Death
Since the 1980's there have been at least 147 incidents documented of suction entrapment in swimming pools, including 36 deaths. Suction entrapment occurs when a swimmer, usually a small child, is trapped by the suction forces created by the water rushing out of the drain at the bottom of the pool. In some cases swimmers have been trapped underwater until they drowned and in others they have suffered serious injuries to various parts of their bodies.
The swimming pool industry has made serious progress in improving the safety of drains and this has reduced but not eliminated some of the injuries and deaths. The deaths and injuries caused by suction entrapment can be completely eliminated, without any negative effects, by sealing the drains in existing pools and not building drains in new pools.
The pool industry has long used drains because of the belief that they are required in order to provide circulation throughout the pool so that contamination will not remain in stagnant areas but will rather quickly pass through the filter where it can be removed. In certain situations, the pool or Jacuzzi drain may not even be necessary; and there remains a question as to whether there is any advantage to having a drain in the first place.
The circulation of water is something that is nearly impossible to see and very difficult to measure so in many cases pool designers have been using drains simply because the pools that were built in the past have used them. The relevant literature shows that drains not only are not necessary, but they do not improve the circulation in a pool or enable its ability to clear contamination. The number of injuries and deaths caused by drains in pools is not large compared with other hazards, yet future deaths and injuries could be prevented at no additional cost simply by getting rid of the drains.
If you or a loved one have been injured in any type of swimming or water accident, please call us toll-free 888-350-3931 for a free consultation or fill out our case evaluation form.
Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act: Federal Requirements Note That Pool and Spa Drain Covers Must Meet Specific Performance Requirements By December 19, 2008
In response to the numerous suction entrapment injuries and deaths in swimming pools and spas during recent years, the United States Congress has approved the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act ("VGBPSSA"). The new federal pool safety law became effective December 19, 2008. As of that date, all public pools and spas, including those located in apartment communities, must be equipped with new approved anti-entrapment drain covers.
The VGBPSSA federal law contains some important components that affect public pool and spa operators:
- It prohibits the manufacture, sale or distribution of suction outlets and covers (drain covers) that are not ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 certified.
- It also requires all public pools and spas to be equipped with proper anti-entrapment drain covers by 12/19/08 as well as other devices if operating a pool with a single main drain.
However, Texas law and rules will continue to apply to public pools and spas because most of the state law requirements meet or exceed the requirements of the new federal law, with the exception of the drain cover requirements. Since Texas requirements are as stringent as or more stringent than the new federal law, following the state regulations will mean that your pool and spa will be in compliance with both state and federal law, except for drain cover requirements.
There is an important change for those operating public pools and spas in Texas relating to drain covers. The Texas Department of State Health Services ("TDSHS"), which oversees regulations for public pools in the state, has recently clarified its guidance on the impact of the new federal regulations on drain covers in light of Texas law. All public pools or spas must be equipped with anti-entrapment devices or systems that comply with the ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 performance standard or any successor standard by December 19, 2008.
According to TDSHS, if a public pool or spa is closed and will not reopen until the 2009 swimming season, replacement of the non-ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 drain covers can be delayed. However, the pool or spa cannot be reopened until the non-compliant covers are replaced.
Specifically, the VGBPSSA federal law, as it relates to drain covers, supersedes the state rule in the Texas Standards for Public Swimming Pools and Spas, which has allowed drain covers in pre-10/01/99 and post-10/01/99 swimming pools and spas to meet the 1996 ASME/ANSI A112.19.8M standard. In addition, the federal pool law supersedes any local ordinance or any national standard that conflicts.
Identifying Compliant Drain Covers:
All approved drain covers that are ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 compliant must have the following markings:
- Embossed or permanent marked with the ASME seal referencing the A112.19.8-2007 standard, which is visible when installed, or the ASME A119.19.8 logo followed by the year of the standard.
- Covers may also include the text "ASME A112.19.8-2007," a flow rating "Life: X Years" and manufacturer and model.
For a list of approved drain covers, visit the CPSC resource page at http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/vgb/draincman.html.
Additionally, Texas rules currently allows the use of grates that are 12" x 12" or greater and do not meet the older ASME/ANSI A112.19.8M standard. However, under the new federal law, all 12" x 12" or greater covers or grates must meet the ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 standard.
Current Texas rules also allow an AVS (atmospheric vent system) to be used as an approved method of protecting against entrapment, entanglement, or evisceration. However, the new federal law will not allow the use of an AVS until there are international standards developed and published by ASTM with a test process to assess performance.
If you are uncertain about which drain covers or other equipment you need to comply with the new VGBPSSA federal law, consult a reputable swimming pool service provider for further guidance. You can also get more information on the new VGBPSSA federal law at the Texas Department of State Health Services swimming pool resource page at www.dshs.state.tx.us/poolspa/baker.shtm.
Contact Attorney W. Craft Hughes
If you or a family member has been seriously injured or if you have lost a child or other loved one in a swimming pool-related accident, you should immediately seek the advice of competent lawyers to make sure that the evidence is secured and your rights are preserved. Attorney W. Craft Hughes would be honored to discuss your case with you. Please contact Craft Hughes Law, P.C. today.
